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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Laura Lamont's Life In Pictures By Emma Straub

Book Description:

The enchanting story of a midwestern girl who escapes a family
tragedy and is remade as a movie star during Hollywood’s golden age.

In
1920, Elsa Emerson, the youngest and blondest of three sisters, is born
in idyllic Door County, Wisconsin. Her family owns the Cherry County
Playhouse, and more than anything, Elsa relishes appearing onstage,
where she soaks up the approval of her father and the embrace of the
audience. But when tragedy strikes her family, her acting becomes more
than a child¹s game of pretend.

While still in her teens, Elsa
marries and flees to Los Angeles. There she is discovered by Irving
Green, one of the most powerful executives in Hollywood, who refashions
her as a serious, exotic brunette and renames her Laura Lamont. Irving
becomes Laura’s great love; she becomes an Academy Award­-winning
actress—and a genuine movie star. Laura experiences all the glamour and
extravagance of the heady pinnacle of stardom in the studio-system era,
but ultimately her story is a timeless one of a woman trying to balance
career, family, and personal happiness, all while remaining true to
herself.

Ambitious and richly imagined, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures is as intimate—and as bigger-than-life—as the great films of the golden age of Hollywood.

Who doesn't love a good story of struggle turned to success? I was happy to review this book and get a glimpse into Hollywood and the dreams of Elsa as she becomes a star. For me this book was an easy read and one that I could put down for a few days and come back to. Sometimes I like books that I feel I need to plow right through and read all at once and sometimes it's nice to have a book I can put down for a few days and pick it up again and feel no rush.